American Philanthropist Howard Buffett, through the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, has embarked on an ambitious plan to invest up to $500 million (about Rwf345 billion) to support Rwanda’s agricultural development.

The 10-year strategic plan will see the foundation spend $100 million this year and remainder in installments over the term of the project to support agricultural development in the country.

The ‘big idea’ as Buffett referred to it, was yesterday confirmed by the Minister of State in the Ministry of Agriculture (Minagri), Tony Nsanganira.

"We are in discussions with Howard G. Buffett Foundation and preparing a project proposal.We will be in position to divulge specific details once we have the project proposal,” Nsanganira told The New Times.

Without delving into details of how the money will be spent, the minister said no specifics regarding the projects have been reached, but he confirmed that the project includes areas affected by drought, while ensuring improved agriculture productivity and enhancing research.

In an interview published by AlJazeera-America, Buffett said his charity will use its experience and funds to support a government project to irrigate more than 380 square miles of land held by small farmers.

Nsanganira said this Buffett’s project is intended for social economic development.

"He is not like any other investor; he is doing this for the socio-economic development cause,” Nsanganira said, reiterating Buffett’s stand that he would not be seeking any return on investment.

In the Aljazeera interview, Buffett says he will fund research into conservation-based and no-till farming that seeks to create healthier soils and produce high yields from fewer inputs.

The practice reduces erosion, fixes moisture and organic nutrients in the soil and, over time, lessens the need for nitrogen fertilisers.

From a test farm Buffett operates in Arizona, US, he said the Foundation hopes to find the most efficient agriculture mechanisms that would best suit Rwanda’s climate, hence producing higher yields from poorer soils.

These will include trying out specific irrigation practices, comparing yield results from pivot systems and drip irrigation from buried lines and to develop, through conventional breeding, drought-resistant crop varieties that are able to produce higher yields from poorer soils.

Agric training centre

In partnership with the government, the Foundation also plans to establish an agricultural training institute in the country, similar in concept to US land-grant universities, which would apply some of the lessons in conservation agriculture learned at the research farm in Arizona and sister projects in Illinois and South Africa by Buffett’s Sequoia Farm Foundation.

"We would have an institution in place that would continue to support agriculture for years to come, and we would have a model that other countries could look at and say, ‘okay, this is where the investments were made. These are the outcomes. This is what we can do,” he is quoted as saying.

Why this commitment?

Buffett’s commitment is attributed to Rwanda’s "right policy framework’, which he said is a catalyst to the new program’s intended success.

"Rwanda is one of the most progressive African countries when it comes to modernising agriculture, the project is very relevant,” Buffett told AlJazeera.

Minister Nsanganira, on the other hand, told The New Times that Rwanda is pleased to work with Howard Buffett’s Foundation toward increasing agriculture productivity and efficiency"It is his commitment and we are pleased that our leadership policies and good governance have been vital to this commitment,” the minister said.

About 10 per cent of the National Budget goes into agriculture, which has boosted sector productivity by 6 per cent each year.

The grant would be an exciting injection to Rwanda’s progressive policies of modernising agriculture.

Rwanda’s first step toward agriculture modernisation stretches back in 2007, when the country became the first of the 26 African nations to sign Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) compact.

The CAADP focuses on improving and promoting agriculture across Africa.

Buffett’s commitment toward supporting research and increasing agriculture productivity in Rwanda is said to have been reached not later than six months ago, according to Nsanganira.

The Howard G. Buffett Foundation has in the recent past funded a couple of projects in the country, including; the construction, worth $9 million (about Rwf6 billion) one-stop border post linking Rubavu District in Western Province to Goma town in eastern DR Congo, supports girl child education in Rwandan refugee camps providing them with school fees and other scholastic materials.

Buffett is the director of Berkshire Hathaway, the multinational conglomerate holding company run by his father Warren Buffett, that is the fifth largest public company in the world, and he is a major sponsor of the World Food Programme. editorial@newtimes.co.rw